'I Think The Boys Have Learnt From Their Mistakes'

South Africa captain AB de Villiers is confident that his team-mates have learnt from the mistakes they made in losing the opening One-Day International in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka ran out the victors by 180 runs having dominated the opening match at the R Premadesa Stadium and de Villiers has already targeted the areas in which he expects significant improvement in the second match on 23rd July.

He needs his side to build partnerships with the bat, bowl with more discipline and perform better with the ball.

“I think the boys have learnt from their mistakes," he said "It was a long 50 overs in the field and it was quite hot, that is not an excuse but maybe something new to the guys and something they couldn’t adapt to.

"In this coming game I think they will know what to expect and hopefully take a few match-winning catches and a couple of run outs."

Opening batsman Alviro Petersen echoed his skipper's call for a more consistent performance in the remainder of the series.

"We expect the same sort of conditions having played the first ODI here, I think we will be wiser about what to anticipate and how to go about executing our skills," Petersen said.

"They have a good bowling attack and Malinga is a key weapon for them, especially upfront with the ball swinging. He looks to bowl full and straight so the key for us is to keep him out and to make sure that he doesn’t pick up too many wickets upfront.

"It’s also vital that we try and get into the middle period with as little wickets down as possible, and to try and capitalise at the back end."

There was some good news for South Africa as Hashim Amla is continuing his recovery from the neck injury that ruled him out of the opening match and he may be fit enough to play tomorrow.